Redbirds win streak stopped at 10

O’FALLON – The Alton Redbirds were unable to spoil any of the Senior Day softball celebration for the O’Fallon Panthers on Tuesday afternoon.

The Redbirds gifted a pair of runs with a pair of first-inning errors and the Panthers beat Alton 5-0 behind a four-hitter from pitcher Addie Barnouskie at O’Fallon City Park.

O’Fallon improves to 22-9 and 11-2 in the Southwestern Conference. The Panthers will play Edwardsville in a winner-take-all date for the SWC title on Thursday in O’Fallon. The 28-3 Tigers pushed their league record to 11-2 with a 20-2 five-inning rout of Collinsville on Tuesday.

Alton took a 10-game winning streak to O’Fallon, but a troubled opening inning set the tone for its first defeat since May 1. The Redbirds drop to 24-9 and 8-5 in the SWC.

“We can make excuses,” Alton coach Dan Carter said. “The seniors are out of school and that’s always a tough thing. I’ve been concerned about that and we’ve addressed it. We haven’t played a game in a week and last week our two games were against teams that weren’t the caliber of O’Fallon, so it’s been almost two weeks since we’ve seen a quality team.

“But it’s up to these girls. They’ve got to mentally figure out a way to come out here ready to play. I think we have the ability to do that.”

Alton starter Brittany Roady was not able to finish the first inning after a hard line-drive by Taylor Underwood struck Roady flush on the inner thigh. Roady was able to recover the ball and throw out Underwood before the pain reached the brain, but her day would be through after five batters and the Redbirds facing a 2-0 deficit.

Alton made the third of three early defensive mistakes on the next batter, triggering a visit to the circle from Carter to deliver a stern reminder that, “We’re better than this.”

“You can’t have the body language that you’ve been beaten,” Carter said. “You’ve got to show people you’re a champion. If you want to be a champion, you’ve got to have the attitude to be a champion. This group can, but we’re not quite there yet.”

O’Fallon would add three runs on four hits off reliever Morgan Butler in the third inning. O’Fallon’s Becca Proper led off with a double, Underwood followed with a RBI triple before Barnouski and Allison Underwood added RBI singles.

The Redbirds could muster no counterpunch against Barnouski, who gave just four singles and two walks while striking out six. It was the fourth shutout loss for Alton this season.

“We’re all locked in, Barnouski had a great game and I’m very pleased with our performance,” said O’Fallon interim coach Kelly Paproth, who is filling the head coach role for the season while Kate Walsh is on maternity leave. “We’ve got nine seniors and this was Senior Night, so it’s great that they all played to their potential and stayed locked in.”

Carter credited his team for regrouping after the rugged start. “We weren’t great,” he said. “but we played ball after that.”